Pentagon Loses Secrecy Bid

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Friday, March 8, a federal judge rejected a bid by the Pentagon to
squelch a lawsuit brought by the American
Small Business League (“ASBL”) seeking to shed light on whether big
defense contractors are giving a fair share of billions of dollars to
small businesses.

In prior orders, Judge Alsup has said that ASBL is waging a “David and
Goliath” struggle against the government and big businesses. The judge
had noted that ASBL was trying to educate the public about defense
contracts, and “here
is the United States covering it up.”

Judge Alsup’s ruling rejected government arguments that ASBL’s lawsuit
should be thrown out. The judge also ruled that some of the
communications between government lawyers and Sikorsky’s lawyers in a
prior case should be made public.

The government collaborated with Sikorsky’s lawyers in a prior case to
keep information secret, before eventually realizing that a Sikorsky
witness was not credible and releasing some information to the public.

Karl Olson, a San Francisco lawyer who is representing ASBL in its
lawsuit, praised Judge Alsup’s ruling as fair and said, “We welcome the
opportunity to go to trial and question the defense contractor
executives about whether they are complying with small business
subcontracting goals.”

The case is American Small Business League v. Department of
Defense, No. C-18-01979-WHA.